Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Landry’s full smile finally came out of hiding, as he gave Mark the full spotlight of his charm. “I am such a sock nerd, it’s not even funny. At some point about a decade ago, I just realized I wanted all of my socks to look cool, and now… well, now I’m apparently the guy at parties who talks about socks, but fuck it, you know?”
Mark laughed loud and bright, clearly enjoying Landry just as much as I did. A fizzle of excited jealousy ran through me as they kept talking.
Maybe more than a little jealousy.
But I couldn’t believe how easy it had been to sit back and play Cupid, trying to be a little hookup matchmaker for Landry.
If I was going to have any chance of being a real friend to Landry, I knew this would have to be part of it. He was a flirt, a bachelor, and always ready for action. I wanted to rip the Band-Aid off and get used to seeing him with other guys, and learn to beat back the envious monster in my head.
Mark and Landry hit it off better than I’d even imagined. I sauntered off toward a caterer carrying around the fanciest meatballs on a stick I’d ever seen. I popped one in my mouth, a tiny morsel of heaven, coated in some sort of sticky soy-ginger glaze. A cocktail lounge piano player was playing jazzy music at the edge of the room, and as my lavender cocktail hit my system, I started to realize that I truly felt like myself for the first time all week. There was only a little while left now before the wedding party would come out again, with first dances and speeches and more food that was probably better than anything I’d had in years.
Letting go was really what I’d needed all along. In fact, I’d probably needed to let go for a long, long time.
The Rocky Mountains, a beautiful wedding, and meeting Landry were the perfect combination of things to kick my ass out of the same tired patterns I’d been in for so long. If it was going to feel this good, screw it was going to be my motto for a long time to come.
I had a short conversation with a nice girl about how good the cocktails were. I complimented a guy on his hair. I even asked the piano player how long he’d been playing, and got to learn about how nice the particular piano was, when the player explained that it was imported from Vienna.
I was standing at a tall table, sipping my drink and listening to the music, when Landry appeared in front of me again, sidling up to the table.
“You’re slick, you know,” he said, giving me a grin with a lifted eyebrow.
“Pardon me?” I said.
“You think you can play matchmaker and I won’t notice?” Landry said, looking amused. “I’m the king of that. I practically invented that move.”
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “Well, you look a whole lot happier than you did before, so I think I did something right.”
“Mark is a very nice guy,” Landry said with a nod, his hair shining under the pendant light above us.
“Isn’t he cute?”
“He’s attractive, obviously,” Landry said, “but nothing is going to happen with me and him.”
I furrowed my brow. “Why the hell not?”
Landry bit his lower lip, considering. “You could match me up with any of these random guys in this room right now and I wouldn’t be interested.”
“Oh, come on,” I said. “It’s time to celebrate. Let loose. Have fun. Only one more night, remember?”
A glimmer of the post-wedding sadness passed through his eyes again, but he hid it pretty quickly this time.
Just then the music stopped and the piano player announced the arrival of Adam and Chase. The pianist started playing classic songs as Adam and Chase made a good show of it, striking poses. The lights were lowered in the room, and they started to perform their first dance.
“Did Chase tell you about learning this dance?” I said to Landry, leaning over to whisper in his ear.
“He told me he had dance lessons from hell.”
“Exactly. Apparently the dance instructor was a tyrant of a guy. He called Chase a wimp when he failed the first back bend dip, and then called him a ‘little bitch.’ Of course, by the end of that night, Chase had befriended him and made it all better, because Chase is a charmer like that.”
“Holy shit,” Landry said. “I’d sock someone in the face if they said that to me.”
“Really?”
He pursed his lips. “Well, no. I’d be very polite, then quietly rage, and maybe leave an online review warning people off of them. But I’d want to sock them in the face.”
I laughed quietly. “That sounds about right.”